Various packaging machines and processes have been used and proposed in the art to package preselected article groups. These machines have typically involved the use of various carton structures, including flat carton blanks, carton sleeves and partially constructed carton configurations, which subsequently are filled or wrapped and secured about preselected article groups.
The present invention relates to continuous motion packaging machines to apply carton clip structures to article groups. Particularly, the invention relates to packaging machines to apply various carton clip structures to the tops of article groups to assemble a variety of environmentally friendly packaged units. Carton clip packaging structures provide the benefit of using less packaging material than presently used cartons which fully surround each article group, such as a six pack of canned beverages.
Presently plastic ring structures are being utilized to join or clip articles together to form carriers for retail sale or for subsequent packaging operations. Although such plastic ring structures provide a suitable economic alternative to article groups packaged in carton structures, they have increasingly been found to present environmental problems, particularly relating to waste management and danger to animal life.
Applicants' assignee has developed carton clip-type article carriers which are comprised of carton members and used to assemble article group carriers. These carton clip carriers are disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/899,192, filed on Jun. 16, 1992, entitled, "Clip-Type Article Carrier and Method of Manufacture", which is incorporated by reference herein. The article clip packaging machines of the present invention are designed to apply the carton clip carriers of the '192 application to article groups to form article group carriers.
The packaging machines of the present invention are designed to apply clip structures comprised of paperboard members to the tops of article groups, such as cans, to thereby join the individual articles into environmentally sound packages. The packaging machines are further designed to apply various paperboard member combinations to various preselected group sizes to provide a variety of completed package units.